Procrastination Cinquain

One thing I've learned about myself, time and time again, is that I have a hard time posting every day.  That's why I should never start something like a poem-a-day to celebrate Poetry Month.  One of these days I'll remember not to promise to blog daily!  


So, it's been a couple of days and I have a new kind of poem to write - a cinquain.  I've never written one before but it looks like fun.  Here are the rules for cinquain writing:


A cinquain is a five line poem.
Line 1: One word (subject or noun)
Line 2: Two words (adjectives that describe line 1)
Line 3: Three words (action verbs that relate to line 1)
Line 4: Four words (feelings or a complete sentence that relates to line 1)
Line 5: One word (synonym of line 1 or a word that sums it up)

Here's my first attempt at a cinquain.

Procrastination

Troublesome, habitual

Waiting, delaying, rushing

Putting off, chasing deadlines

Stalling

Love

Today's poem is a verbal collage entitled "Love".  It's the first time I've made one and it was fun and easy.  Here's how you can make your own:

1 - Pick a topic and, in a word processing program,  make a list of words you want to include.

2 - Determine the importance of each word and you can adjust the size accordingly.  If you type a word 5 times it makes it very big; 4 times makes it big; 3 times makes it smaller; 2 times makes it even smaller; 1 time makes it the smallest.

3 - Now, copy your text and paste it into Wordle.

4 - You can change the color, font and layout until you're happy with how it looks.

5 - You can't save your collage on Wordle so you'll need to take a snapshot of it and save it that way.

It's as easy as that!  Give it a try!

Saturday Night Clerihew

Today's poem is a Clerihew - a light verse, usually consisting of two couplets of uneven length 

and irregular meter, the first line usually containing the name of a well-known person.  The Clerihew was invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley (1875 - 1956), an English writer, at the age of 16.

Sean

My son, Sean

Is almost gone,

He's moving soon,

I think in June :-(

Brian

My son, Brian

Is always tryin'

He'll work it out

Without a doubt!

Skeltonic Verse

In researching different forms of poetry, I came across Skeltonic Verse, named after English Poet, John Skelton (1460-1529).  Skelton had tutored King Henry the Eighth when he was a prince and later spent time in prison, was censured by the church and seemed to have a lot of fun!  The rules of Skeltonic Verse are simple:  

• Keep the line lengths between three and six words
• Every end word rhymes with the previous, until you start a new set of rhymes
• Keep the same rhyme until it starts to lose its energy or impact
• The poem should be full of energy and fun

Here's my Skeltonic Verse:

The weekend's here

I shout and cheer   

Until I hear

A voice so clear

From in the yard

the words were hard

So I was jarred
My plans were marred

There on the stoop

With bag and scoop

He made me droop

"Let's pick up poop!"

I forgot

  

I Forgot

I can't believe I almost forgot,

to write another poem.

I don't know where my memory went,

It must still be at home.